A detailed analysis of our need for an Anti-Islam Manual

As I have suggested on several occasions on my blog, one of our priorities in the War of Ideas should be a synopsis of the Problem of Islam that has the following qualities:

1) it must be definitive

2) it must be as complete as possible

3) it must be as concise as possible

4) it must be impeccably referenced with citations of sources

5) it must be crafted with the primary goal of refuting the PC paradigm used by both PC and Muslim apologists of Islam.

The above suggested qualities refer to the form of the synopsis as well as to general guidelines on its content. The actual content of such a synopsis I have touched on more directly (albeit still only provisionally) in my prior essay, An Infidel’s Enchiridion: A Proposal (also see my more recent reprisal of this theme, The aim of the A.I.M. should be an A.I.M.).

What a synopsis should not be can be gleaned by considering the five qualities listed above, and then conjecturing their opposites:

1) Definitive. 

By “definitive” is meant that it has to be the only front-line source used by the anti-Islam movement. It has to be The Bible of the anti-Islam movement. Other sources may supplement it, but no other source may replace its function as the only front-line source for the two most important features of the Communications role of the anti-Islam movement:

i) criticizing Islam

and

ii) undermining Islam apologetics.

As such, it should not be just another essay about Islam to add to the gigantic, bewilderingly multi-layered and multi-tentacled, constantly growing mountain of literature we have about Islam out there. I don’t mean this as an indiscriminate indictment of the literature about Islam out there—it is good, in a general sense, that we have a growing supply of essays and analyses devoted to the subject of Islam. In terms of a synopsis of Islam that can be used by us Infidels as a handy arsenal of points and counterpoints against apologists of Islam, however, it has to be definitive.

And in order to be definitive,

a) it has to be recognized as such by consensus.

And in order to be so recognized,

b) it has to be created as the fruit of a concerted objective.

And in order to be so created,

c) it has to be put on the table for discussion as a common goal.

And in order for such a discussion to take place fruitfully,

d) a venue of optimum suitability has to be found and utilized.

And one major candidate for such a venue would be Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch site. My suggestion, therefore, for that first link in the chain-reaction that would help to establish the definitive quality of the synopsis, would be as follows: Robert Spencer should use his considerable cachet and status—not to mention his role as a beacon in the anti-Islamic movement, quite possibly the top dog thereof, with an impressive array of devoted followers who hail from various walks of life and various places around the globe—to do the following:

i) Post a thread at the Jihad Watch site devoted to calling on all readers to help with the project of putting together a synopsis. He should treat this particular thread uniquely, re-posting it two or three times in following weeks so that it remains up top.

ii) Delegate a member of the Jihad Watch team to manage all the responses and to begin the process of putting together a team to work on the synopsis.

iii) Meanwhile solicit funds—both on the thread from readers as well as in other ways from people he knows in the world outside the Net—to help remunerate those who have joined (or who have been selected for) the project.

iv) Guide the Project Team along, with the first order of business being the arrival at a consensus on how the synopsis should be structured in form, and what its nature should be in terms of content and function. After a consensus has been reached, the Project Team can spend up to one solid year working on the synopsis—since its quality will be more important than its exigently hasty production.

v) Robert Spencer and Pam Geller (and their assistants) should devote more than 50% of their time during that solid year to the Project, delegating other Jihad Watch staff to continue keeping the Jihad Watch site going.

vi) During the entire year and afterward, Robert Spencer should continue soliciting funds in order to remunerate Project workers, who will doubtlessly be willing to work under the promise of payment deferred.

Now, why would Robert Spencer and the other Jihad Watch members agree to this major shifting of their time and priorities? Only if they had come to realize that an Anti-Islam Manual should be our #1 priority in terms of the pedagogical role of our War of Ideas.

Moving on, we consider the converse of the other qualities of the proposed synopsis:

2 and 3) Complete, yet Concise.   

The synopsis should neither be incomplete, nor should it be sloppy and uneven in its derelection of the duty of being precisely concise—both faults which are present in the Islam 101 of Prof. Davis. The synopsis, on the contrary, must balance two paradoxical qualities: it must be as complete as possible, yet also be as concise as possible. The synopsis has to contain all the major points about the Problem of Islam as well as about the Apologies of Islam (which of course include Condemnations of the West). But the synopsis also has to be ruthlessly economical in language and presentation, with no fluff or décor: it has to read like a technical manual.

4) Impeccably Referenced.  

The synopsis should not have any statements which are unreferenced: the Islam 101 of Prof. Davis is filled with assertory statements devoid of any references to sources. Any unreferenced statement is utterly worthless in the context of a synopsis properly conceived. The synopsis must be impeccably referenced with citations of sources: every claim made must have at least three separate references to sources, and where primary sources are pertinent (such as the Koran and Hadiths) then those should be supplemented by at least three separate references to secondary sources. Nailing down all the citations will likely take up most of the time spent during that solid year of producing the synopsis.

5) Target the PC MC Paradigm.  

And finally, the synopsis must not have some vague goal of “educating people about Islam”: it must be a ruthlessly efficient machine where every moving part, every gear, every joint, every button, and every nut and bolt, is specifically calibrated to deliver a solid, substantive punch. And those specifically calibrated punches must be precisioned with specific targets lucidly in mind—the targets being divided up into two spheres:

a) the problems of Islam;

and

b) the apologetic defenses (and counter-defenses) of Islam whitewashers.